Hydraulic mechanism for machine tools and the like



March 13,1945. SCOTT 2,371,553

HYDRAULIC MECHANISM FOR MACHINE TOOLS AND THE LIKE Filed June 8, 1942 Ghefald D. scon- Patented Mar.- 13, 19 45 HYDRAULIC MECHANISM FOR. MACHINE TOOLS AND THE LIKE Gherald D. Scott, Worcester, Mass, assignor to The Heald Machine Company,

Worcester,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application June 8, 1942, Serial No. 446,255

' 1 Claim. (Cl. 121-45) The present invention relates to improvements in hydraulic systems such as are used, for example, in the actuation of reciprocatory tables or carriages on various kinds of machin tools.

In such a machine, using an hydraulic motor in the form of a cylinder and piston for producing the reciprocation between the parts, it is customary to secure the cylinder either to the table or to the machine base; in either case, longitudinal expansion of the cylinder as the pressure fluid' heats up, will cause some distortion of the part to which it is attached, which adversely affects the alignment between the reciprocating part and its ways, and thereby increases the friction and wear between the parts.

Also in such a cylinder and. piston customary to use a pack ng material around the piston rod to prevent leakage and loss of effectiveness of the pressure fluid. in the cylinder. The packing is squeezed against the rod, introducin friction and wear, which necessitates frequent renewal of the packing; frequently also the piston rod becomes scored and has to be replaced.

One of the principal objectsof thi invention is to provide such a cylinder and piston unit so arranged that any longitudinal expansion of the cylinder due to heating up will occur in the absence of any distortion of the member to which said cylinder is attached.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cylinder and piston unit wherein the piston rod is a substantially floating member, unconfined by packing used to prevent leakage, whereby friction and wear is reduced to a minimum.

It is another object of this invention to provide a cylinder and piston unit having improved means for collecting any air that has been entrained in the oil or other pressure fluid, and for'expelling such air from the system.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a cylinder and piston unit with means to cushion the end of the stroke of the piston and means to release the piston from the cushioning means on the reverse stroke.

A further object of thi invention is to provide a piston, using piston rings, of novel design with means whereby the width of the ring grooves can be adjusted.

Other and further objects will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in coni with the hydraulic system shown schematically.

unit, it is.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional View of said cylinder and piston unit.

' Fi 3 is an enlarged detail view of one end of the piston.

Lilse reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

Fig. 1 shows fragmentarily the base tot a rnachine tool, having the usual longitudinal ways '2 for reciprocation of a table 3. Below said table is arranged the piston and cylinder unit 4, by which table 3 is actuated, the base i for the attachment of this unit having spaced portions la and lb, receiving bolts 5 and 6 respectively, by which to anchor, as hereinafter described, the heads or end caps I9, 20 of the cylinder of said unit t. The piston of said unit provides a rod I extending from one end of said unit which is fastened to a bracket 8 by means of a nut 9, the said bracket being secured to the under side of the table 3 by means of bolts ill, whereby reciprocation of the piston is imparted to the table.

' Fluid under pressure is supplied to the unit by means. of'a pump H which delivers the fluid to a reversing valve l2, associated with suitable conduits l3 and It leading to the right and left hand ends of the cylinder of unit 4 and also with an exhaust conduit l5. Operation of the valve I2 to alternately connect the ends of the cylinder to v pressure and exhaust, is accomplished by any suitable means such as that shown in the Blood Reissue Patent No. 20,634, dated January 25, 1938,

1 cap 20 has rigid anchorage to base I by bolt 6 sewith an upright slot 22 which is open on the upper curing it to'base portion lb, but the other end cap l9, secured to base portion Ia by bolt- 5, is formed side at =23, whereby a flexible arm 24 is provided between the cylinder and the baseof themachine to which the said arm is fastened. The said arm 24 constitutes in effect. a radius rod between the ,end cap proper and the base of the machine,

whereby the cylinder is rigidly supported in all planes and yet is free to expand in the horizontal plane. without subjecting the base I to any distortion or strain.

The cap It has cylindrical recesses 25 and-26,

later described. Said cap ll has ducts 28 and 29 for connecting the interior of the cylinder with fluid conduit It. A bleeder duct 30 in the cap it is arranged to intercept the space or pocket ll made by the bevel ll of cylinder barrel 18 when the cap and cylinder are assembled. The other end cap!!! has a central aperture or bearing 3! appreciably larger in diameter than the piston.

rod 1 which passes therethrough: this bore 3! has a recess 32 which is connected by a passage 38 in head" with a drainage duct 34 leading to the exhaust conduit IS. The cap 20 also has ducts 35 and 38 corresponding with ducts 28 and 29 of head is, for connecting the interior of the cylinder with fluid conduit I. Also the cap 20 has a bleeder duct 31 which intercepts the space or pocket i! made by the bevel it on the cylinder barrel whenthe cap and cylinder are assembled. In hydraulic motors of the cylinder and piston type using an incompressible medium such as oil secures constant collection and expulsion of all such air, by constantly bleeding of! from the top of the cylinder, small quantities of oil, through the pockets I1 and It; the latter are connected by recesses l1" and l 8" with the top of the cylinder space where the air, being the lighter of the two fluids, will always collect, By this bleedin action, all such air will be expelled from the system, along with small quantities of oil that bleed out through the ducts II and 37, the latter being connected as shown in Fig. 1 to the exhaust conduit. I! through which the oil flowing to reverse valve it from one 'end or the other of the cylinder is returned to the supply tank or sump, not shown. Said conduit I8 is provided, between valve i2 and the points where it is joined by bleed ducts 39 and 31, with a spring-closed check valve :5, through which fluid exhausting from either end of the cylinder passes freely to the sump until the volume of fluid is so small that the ball check valve I! closes; thereupon thecolumn of fluid in the conduit below the check valve creates a temporary sub-atmospheric 30 and 31.

As shown in Fig. 2, the piston at in cylinder It is preferably made in sections, there being as shown two end sections 38 and II with a spacer section 40 between them, the end sections being recessed at 42 and 43 respectively. Said and sections have reduced diameter portions 44 and 45 respectively of a widthsuitable for piston rings ll and II.

senses means of a nut 5!. Owing to the recesses 42 and u in the sections 38 and H, the said sections are adapted to be sprung by tightening up on the nut 52 and thus the width of the spaces for the piston rings 85 and I? can be varied as desired to obtain the proper fit with the rings. It is to be understood that the width of the piston rings and the spaces receiving them are finished to very close tolerances, so that any springing of the sections pressure which drains oi! the fluid and air from the drain ducts not leave the tube 53 bone dry, but leaves an One of the major advantages of this multi-part V II of the piston rod 1 and secured thereto by 39 and ti will be of a minute amount and therefore will not appreciably afi'ect the parallelism between the sides of the rings and the flanges defining the spaces.

In any such piston and cylinder unit, the ordis nary practice of employing s. stuiiing box having packing around the piston rod to prevent leakage from the cylinder, involves considerable friction on the rod, due to the necessity of maintaining the packing as tight as possible against the rod. Such tight packing frequently scores the surface of the rod, and this in turn destroys the packing, so that both the rod and packing often need to be replaced. Another objection to the use of a stumng box and packing is that the connection of the piston rod to the part which it actuates must be very accurately in line with the rod; should there be even a slight deviation from the alinernent, the rod becomes sprung, a, condition which increases the, friction and the wear on the packing. In the present construction, these difliculties are intensified by the fact that the cylinder at its other end i given a certain limited freedom of movement (afforded by the. flexible arm 24 as above described) :such cylinder movement, by its efiect on the path of the piston 38, is

bound to cause more or less deviation of the piston rod from an absolutely straight line or rectilinear travel, and thus to make it all the more dimcult to maintain a satisfactory packing against said rod. My invention overcomes this difiiculty in the following manner:

A hollow tube 53 is telescoped over the piston rod 7 and is brazed or otherwise secured at 56 to the end section 39 of the piston. This tube 53 has a close sliding fit in the bearing 3i, whereby there is substantially a metallic seal to keep the leakage from the cylinder to a minimum. Inasmuch as the tube 53 is a reciprocating member in the bearing 3i, there is bound to be a small amount of oil adhering to it so that some of the oil would be carried beyond the end of the cap 20, there to drip 0!? and be wasted, unless some means is provided to prevent this. In my improved construction such means has been provided by the recess 32 and passage 33, these being connected by duct 34 to the exhaust conduit II in which the aforesaid sub-atmospheric pressure created by the passsage of the exhaust fluid from the cylinder, by

drawing in a small amount of air through the outer portion of the bearing 3!, acts to keep the oil irom escaping at this end of the cylinder, despite the absence of packing. This action does extremely thin film of oil on the said tube sufficient to keep it lubricated.

With the floating piston rod of the present construction, there is noopportunity of friction 'or wear due to displacement of its longitudinal axis Furthermore, if' there is any bending or whippin of the piston rod at the reversal of its stroke when it is suddenly put under compression, the present arrangement permits such bending to occur without causing any friction on the rod or on the tube bearing. That is to say, the tube 53, despite such action of the rod 1, maintains the piston in correct relation within the cylinder and the friction caused by the reciprocation of the tube in the bearing 35 is negligible as compared with the common practice of using a stufllng box for the piston.

As the piston 38 moves to the right and nears the end of its stroke, the hub 48 on the piston enters the recess 25 in the end cap I9. The diameter of the hub 48 is made just enough smaller than the recess 25 so that the oil trapped by the entry of the hub into the recess is gradually expelled at a rate togive the desired cushioning effeet at the end of the stroke. When the valve I2 is again reversed and fluid flows to the right hand end or the cylinder, the piston will start to move to the left and this reverse movement tends to create a partial vacuum in the recess" which might cause the piston to jump as the hub leaves the recess, unless means were provided to gradu- Y ally relieve the said partial vacuum. This means is provided by the slight taper 48 on the end or the hub 8. Soon after the piston 88 starts to move to the left, the beginning 48' of the taper on the hub passes the inner edge 21' of the bevel 21 and thus gradually opens the recess so that the slight vacuum is gradually relieved, allowing the piston to move smoothly without jump.

I claim:

In a machine tool or the like, a stationary base having slideways, a table reciprocable on said .slideways, hydraulically actuated means carried by said base below said table for procuring said tables movement, said actuating means compris ing a cylinder and a piston working therein, said piston being connected to said table, said cylinder at each end having ahead element connecting it to and supporting it from said base, one 01' said head elements being slotted to provide between cylinder and base a substantially vertical connecting arm of relatively thin cross section, thereby to permit expansion of said cylinder in the absence of any distortion or the base and its slideways.

GHERALD D. SCOTT. 

